The Kamogawa Food Detective – more literally translated in the French and German as the Restaurant of Lost Recipes – is a beautiful nerdy deconstruction of what a classic dish might be as retold in short single chapters each one focussing on a well known dish from tonkatsu to beef stew. Details as we say. […]
The Kamogawa Food Detective – more literally translated in the French and German as the Restaurant of Lost Recipes – is a beautiful nerdy deconstruction of what a classic dish might be as retold in short single chapters each one focussing on a well known dish from tonkatsu to beef stew. Details as we say. So for the “lowly” mackerel sushi, Hisashi Kashiwai has his policeman turned chef the eponymous Nagare seeking out the fish from the tropical waters off Wakasa, on the southern tip of Okinawa. The rice is marinated in what he calls the Tosa variation – vinegar with bonito which is caught locally and soy, plus yuzu which changes the colour to yellow. His garnish is thinly sliced ryukyu taro. The detail of his investigation may seem nerdy to people who don’t cook but that has not stopped these (a little mushy) stories being bestsellers in Japan and translated across the west. “I experimented with the seasoning of the vinegar, the cut of the mackerel, how long to marinate. The second piece on the right turned out to be the best,” he confides to his daughter Kosishi. They toast their success with some special sakes, Suigei and Minami, that he picked up in his research of the Kochi prefecture. Possibly this may sound elitist but he also covers spaghetti in red sauce. Proper cooking is egalitarian. Proper cooking is seeking out the right ingredients. And for the nikujaga stew “the meat is A5 grade Matsuaka beef and the potatoes are Northern Rubies from Hokkaido…the broth is flavoured with Simousa soy sauce from Chiba and a type of high-grade refined Japanese sugar normally used to make desserts.” All rooted in the countryside. This is anothert cover from Spain withcat and daughter to the fore:
